When NFL gods like Tom Brady, Bill Belichick and Robert Kraft clash and bicker, there is thunder at the mountaintop and nobody ever wins.

Except for the decidedly non-celestial 49ers, I guess, this one time.

First, if you haven't read Seth Wickersham's amazing piece diving into the tensions that seem to be finally breaking apart the Patriots dynasty, I'd say go ahead and do that. Right now. Or re-read it. This is a monumental piece, not just because it is brimming with fascinating details (though it is), but because it lands right when we can all feel that the Bradly-Belichick-Kraft consortium might be straining to hold it together.

This is what I call a premonitional story — it anticipates and informs us about something large that we all could almost sense but didn't yet know.

But locally, the end result is that we finally got some explanation for why the Patriots A) would trade Jimmy Garoppolo in the middle of the season,...

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